Orthotics and lower limb orthosis devices, in one form, are made for patients by practitioners for a custom fit to accommodate a patients lower limb support needs. It has been found, in the practice of forming foot orthotics or orthoses, that the logistics of transporting product from the factory to the practitioner is time-consuming, as the practitioner must first send a mold back to the manufacturing facility. Further, there is an issue of maintaining product at the practitioner's location whereby constantly sending molds to the manufacturer can deplete the practitioner's supply of stock mold materials. Therefore, in one form it is desirable to have an embodiment where a semi-rigid device used to make a negative mold of a patient's foot is not sent back to the orthosis manufacturer, but rather, can be stored at the practitioner's location for reuse. Further, storage space is generally not plentiful at a practitioner's business location, and maintaining inventory of foot molding products can be very challenging. In one form, the embodiments below disclose a convenient method of storing and stacking the flexible members.
The description relates to a flexible support device that is adapted to be used in assisting in the molding casting process. In general, a negative shape of the patient's foot is cast for purposes of creating a dynamic ankle foot orthosis. It should be noted that the foot cast is for the lower leg including the ankle portion, as well as the lower foot region of a patient, essentially the biomechanical structures below the knee of a patient.
Another area of the disclosure relates to pediatric orthotics utilizing a flexible support device. In areas where custom orthotics are not appropriate for various budgetary reasons, a mild support system is advantageous for various young people with foot misalignments. Therefore, pre-made orthotics have provided a service where foot support is appropriate.
During pronation of a foot there are three significant segments of the foot that must be controlled. The heel area during pronation tends to shift into eversion. Eversion is an anatomical condition where the heel, with respect to the ankle, is repositioned and rotates about a longitudinal axis laterally outwardly. The longitudinal arch must maintain a proper biomechanical position and alignment. During pronation the arch moves medially and distally to a flat position, more so in the medial direction. Finally, the forefoot will shift laterally outwardly to abduction. Therefore, all three of these occurrences happen in conjunction and the heel and the arch in the forefoot will shift commensurate with the misalignment of each general foot region.
It should be noted that during collapse of the mid foot longitudinal arch, the skin surface of the heel will remain substantially intact with the weight-bearing surface, but the upper portion of the heel will move laterally inwardly, rotating about a substantially longitudinally extending axis.
Therefore, an effective orthotic or orthosis device must address all three of these simultaneously while providing for movement and general athletic motions of the patient. The device should address these misalignment issues and be comfortable and wearable by the patient.
A further embodiment of the invention is to have an off-the-shelf non-customized device for the patient as well. Further, because patients that are young are growing and outsize these devices in a relatively short amount of time, there is an economic incentive to make a less expensive device which will have a limited lifetime irrespective of the use and wear of the device.
Deep foot orthotics are problematic in that they have not often been comfortable to patients. Therefore, the challenge has been to provide a comfortable off-the-shelf foot orthotic that provides support and adapts to various patients' feet without specific molding.
Pre-made inserts have been problematic because of the instability associated with them.